Weaverville – Saying this was a good year for the North Buncombe Ladies Golf team would be an understatement. It wasn’t just a good year, it was record-setting. The team won the WMAC Conference 3A Championship for the first time in school history. The team also qualified to play in Regionals in Charlotte.
Coaching
North Buncombe Golf Coach Brandon Griffin has a right to be proud of his team and their achievements. First, the season was unusual—the boys’ and girls’ seasons played at the same time due to the pandemic. Despite that, Griffin says not one player contracted COVID, which is, “Something to celebrate.”
“They won the conference by 19 strokes, which is a pretty big accomplishment,” said Griffin, who has taught at NB since 2012 and coached golf since 2017.
Griffin also said that the girls’ team was the best he’d ever coached at North Buncombe.
After dominating at the conference and going to regionals, the team did not advance to the state championship. Still, North Buncombe’s Bekka Mull placed in the top nine individuals, which qualified her to compete in the 3A State Championship. Of the 45 girls competing from across the state, Mull, a sophomore, finished 15th overall.
Familial Support
Dale Mull, Bekka’s dad, related this story from the regionals, “Play was suspended due to lightning as she finished the 17th hole. It poured but the rain only lasted five or so [minutes]. So the girls were close enough to make the cut and were asked to come back the next day and finish out the round. According to the projected cut line, Bekka needed to par the 18th to ensure she was moving on to the State Championship, but a possible bogey could get her in or a playoff.
“So none of us slept well the entire night and she promptly got on the tee box of [the] 18th at 8:30 am and proceeded to par 18 to clinch her spot at the Championship,” Dale recounts. “She told us afterward that she had been on the range just before teeing off and hit very poorly. But she has nerves of steel, it seems.”
According to Dale, “Last year at regionals, Bekka chipped in from about 30 yards away on [the] 18th to clinch her spot at the state championship last year as a freshman. She seems to have a flair for the dramatic. Last year they took 80 girls to the state championship and she finished 51st. This year due to covid, they only allowed 45 girls to go and she finished 15th overall as a sophomore.”